Winter Olympics Day 16 recap: U.S. men win hockey gold; Eileen Gu defends freeski crown
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Of course, it went to overtime. But this time it was the U.S. that minted a “Golden Goal” as Jack Hughes rocketed a shot into Canada’s net 1:41 into the three-on-three extra period to set off the celebration of America’s first hockey gold medal since the “Miracle on Ice” squad of U.S. amateurs brought home the prize in 1980.
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The 2-1 nail-biting win against archrival Canada came 46 years to the day after that “Miracle on Ice” team shocked the heavily favored and potent Soviet Union side in the 1980 semifinals in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Sixteen years ago, it was Sidney Crosby’s “Golden Goal” that beat the U.S. 3-2 in extra time and instantly became a fixture in Canadian hockey lore and legend.
Hughes’ winner, along with the brilliance of Team USA netminder Connor Hellebuyck, seems destined for the same reverence.
Matt Boldy put the U.S. in front at the six-minute mark of the first period when he split a pair of Canadian defenders and put the puck past goalie Jordan Binnington.
But that early U.S. momentum waned, and the Americans hung on for dear life as the Canadians unleashed a barrage of shots against Hellebuyck, who turned in an all-time-great performance in a game in which Canada outshot the U.S. 42-28. Canada pulled back even with a goal from Cale Makar late in the second period, but Hellebuyck continued to deny Canada’s greatest stars: Connor McDavid on a breakaway, Macklin Celebrini on the doorstep, and an outright robbery of Devon Toews’ attempted tap-in into an open net. It was a 41-save masterpiece.
Both teams failed to score on power-play chances in the third. Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon had the best scoring opportunity of the period, a quality look about 10 minutes in, but his shot missed the opening and found the side netting. When the horn sounded, the teams were still knotted at 1.
Sudden-death overtime is a stage designed for heroics, but Hughes and his linemates ended the drama quickly. After Team USA barely cleared the puck out of its end, Zach Werenski raced down the ice to reach it first, squaring it across to an all-alone Hughes, who took a moment to compose himself and ripped the winner past Binnington with less than two minutes elapsed in overtime.
The loss snapped an incredible run for Team Canada. It had won 15 consecutive games in best-on-best Olympics since losing to the U.S. in the 2010 round-robin. Canada won gold in Vancouver 2010, in Sochi in 2014 at the World Cup of Hockey in 2016 and at the 4 Nations last year.
U.S. coach Mike Sullivan called this team the best collection of Americans he has ever seen, and offered some perspective to his players in the days leading up to Sunday’s final. He said that in the 100-plus years of U.S. men’s hockey teams participating in the Olympics, only 36 hockey players have earned that gold medal between the 1960 and 1980 victorious teams. Twenty-five more joined that select company Sunday after a victory, like that one at Lake Placid, that might resonate for generations to come.
You can find the final medal count here, and here you can view photos of every gold medalist from the 2026 Winter Olympics — more than 200 athletes who competed at the Milan Cortina Games.
Eileen Gu defends Olympic gold in women’s freeski halfpipe
Eileen Gu’s tears flowed freely Sunday after she successfully defended her gold medal in women’s freeski halfpipe. The tears were a testament to her victory and a tribute to her grandmother, Guozhen Feng, whom she learned not long after her performance had died.
“She was a steam ship,” Gu told the Associated Press. “This woman commanded life, and she grabbed it by the reins, and she made it into what she wanted it to be.”
“She inspired me so much,” Gu added. “The last time I saw her before I came to the Olympics, she was very sick, so I knew that this was a possibility.”
In Sunday’s competition, World No. 1 Zoe Atkin took the lead after the first run of the day to put the heat on the reigning Olympic champion.
Gu responded with the top two highest scores of the day on her second and third runs to defend her title. With the victory, Gu, who switched her allegiance from the U.S. in 2019 to represent China, further cemented her legacy as the most decorated freestyle skier in history with three gold and three silver medals.
Gu said she had promised her grandmother that she would be brave during her Olympic competitions. “That’s a testament to competitive strength, it’s mental strength,” she said. Sunday’s medal was her third of the Games.
World No. 2 Li Fanghui of China, Gu’s teammate, won the silver medal. Great Britain’s Atkin took bronze.
Sweden’s Ebba Andersson wins first women’s cross-country 50km mass start
Before Sunday, Sweden’s Ebba Andersson had been stacking the silver medals. She had finished runner-up three times earlier in these Games, but she finished her Olympics with a gold in the women’s cross-country 50km mass start.
“It’s really a dream come true. I’ve dreamed about this day for a long time now, and it’s almost unbelievable that everything went as planned,” Andersson said.
Heidi Weng of Norway won silver, while Nadja Kälin of Switzerland won the bronze. American cross-country legend Jessie Diggins finished fifth in what she had said would be her final Olympic race.
Germany wins gold and silver in four-man bobsled
Germany continued its bobsled dominance Sunday, winning the four-man bobsled with a team led by Johannes Lochner. The Germans won by more than half a second over another German team captained by Francesco Friedrich. A Swiss sled piloted by Michael Vogt captured the bronze medal. Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer won the gold in the two-man event Tuesday.
Sweden edges Switzerland for women’s curling gold
Sweden added to its curling success at the Milan Cortina Games, winning its fourth team gold medal in the women’s event with a 6-5 victory over Switzerland. Earlier in the competition, Sweden claimed gold in the mixed doubles competition.
“The girls have played unreal this week, and it’s just been such a privilege to be standing in the house and call the shots for them,” the team’s skipper, Anna Hasselborg, said. “I’m so proud of the journey we’ve been on and how much we have pushed the level of play and how we’re playing.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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